i left my phone on the tram a few weeks ago. within minutes, it was disconnected, presumably stolen for personal use, as it wouldn't have been worth much to anyone. it was valuable to me though, not because it held numbers or performed certain functions, but because it had hundreds of photos on it that i dearly loved.
so i've decided to memorialise them here, to paint you a picture that you'll never see but also so i don't forget the feelings they gave me.
there were magical pictures of madge and mskp's excellent adventure up the west coast of australia. several of us drinking wine from crystal glasses on the beach at cervantes, right before a couple of dolphins appeared at the water's edge. still others of us at the pub after eating some spectacular surf and turf and sharing a bottle of fine champagne. overlooking the water of course. another waterfront marvel was the oysters at the fremantle docks, under the little huts in a glass beer garden. we had pictures of that too. my favourite though, was a picture of mads in her shiny new dress, laughing it up at the scotto - in her element, surrounded by friends, and love and hilarity, and i was there.
i had alot of pictures of me and toby, which i treasured. it would be too easy for me to remember only the terrible end but i don't. i try very hard to remember the excitement and love and joy, and i looked at those pictures often. they were so intimate, lounging around with frank, sharing food, wrapped up in the warmth of unfashionable house clothes and blankets and each other. so many happy moments captured at arm's length. there was good, and that's how i made peace with myself. i know the truth about love [that it exists and is real and can then be gone].
i lost all my documentary coverage of my favourite graffiti and stencil art. brunswick was such a hotspot for this, and i photographed a lot of anti-howard ephemera, with a view to publishing it here one day. i also had shots of some fantastic graffiti responses to the nt intervention, that were both incendiary and eloquent. a few other little gems too, that can't be recaptured - a tree branch casting a long shadow as it protruded through the fence pickets, a nonna putting flowers in her hat after pinching them from someone's garden.
my lady day, at ray, years ago now. it was one of those photos that just lined up perfectly and showed something of its subject that largely remains hidden. i was proud of taking it, and i love that woman so. it was one of the first pictures i ever took that i thought was not only special to me, but actually good.
frank. some wonderfully amusing and awww-inducing photos of frank, sitting in a pot of dirt, wearing all manner of comedic accessories, a particularly successful round of stuff on my dog. good times, good times...luckily he's still around, tickling the proverbial funny bone, ready for his close-up.
and finally, my two-headed gay husband on the day i got the keys to my new house. it was during a time of such relentless despair, that the little victory of securing a home was enough to send us all a bit silly. i was joyous at all my hard work and hopes paying off, and they were right there with me, all the way. that day was a burst of sunshine in an otherwise dark time. i lost a picture of them, sun-kissed and singleted, squeezed together on the windowsill, swinging their legs, smiling like fools. god, i loved that picture.
so there you have it. obviously, the sensible among us will take this as a timely reminder to download, save and backup precious photographs. the rest of us might remember an image that means the world to them, and finally put it in a frame where it can be admired every day.
me, i'm going to start again.
